Friday, March 24, 2006

petard = 'loud explosion of intestinal gases' in french :-)

petard = small bomb in english, but the above in french, i just found out.

there is a great sanskrit verse about the various flavors of 'released intestinal gases' (ok, let's not be coy: farts) in sanskrit. i forget the rest of it, but the last one sticks in my mind:

nissabdam, prana-sankatam!

that is, the silent ones are deadly! :-)

does anybody remember the rest?

ps. turns out the old indo-european language has a root for 'fart'! clearly this has been a recognized sport for very long. unlike an age-old spectator sport like woman-watching (much enhanced by the advent of the bikini), spectators (or should i say olfactors?) have a very hard time with the sport of petarding.

15 comments:

just 2 weeks back at my work place we figured out that one of our chineese team member had an extraordinary ability of farting. and belive me- incessantly.. and all of his were the deadly silent ones..

this was the mail one of my collegues sent..

*******************************Team,

I don’t think we have a management training video for handling this, so let me just wing-it....

There have been some complaints about air quality in the area. Specifically – that someone has been “passing gas.” Please be mindful of your neighbors.

interesting question, cacoethes scribendi, about appropriateness. personally my rule of thumb is if i feel like posting it, it's appropriate. your mileage may vary. after all, i consider this blog a combination of entertainment and edification: i get both from it, and i hope others do too.

yes, chandramahal, niss(h)abdam means 'soundless'. nisshabdam prana-sankatam means what i said it does. kalyani sometimes acts like she has a direct line to god (she once suggested that listening to recorded gita slokas is bad for some mysterious reason), but she doesnt, alas, and she doesn't know sanskrit any better than i do. (and kalyani if you start ranting and raving based on this comment, i promise i will simply delete your posts like i have done before).

the verses i quoted were just light entertainment, of which there is a great deal in sanskrit. it is by no means a stuffy language, there's lots of wordplay and puns and double-entendres so it's possible this has a second meaning as well as kalyani suggests. it is true that the gita talks about multiple types of breath, and prana is only one such, there are at least two more, including apana.

and cacoethes scribendi, remember that this is a young person's medium. i am pretty old, and you have hinted strongly that you are even older. let's not try and impose our ancient nttions on these youngsters who read and post here. most of them are in their early 20's, i can tell from their tone. maybe some in their late 20s and some in their early 30s too. as a marketer, these are the market segments i cater to, and stuffy is not what these guys want. so i feel that a little frivolity is quite appropriate amidst all the 'intellectual' pontifications we all indulge in.

as blog owner, all your comments end up in a mailbox of mine, so i can easily pull up what you said.

here's verbatim what you said on 11/25/05:

"About your listening to recorded Vedic Chants and Gayathri Manthram too I had wanted to post some very important advice (as advised by a Veda Ghanapaadigal) but did not.I guessed right that you are ultra touchy and might hastily conclude I am nitpicking!"

nothing about 'wrong intonation and indiscriminately played', you'll notice. in any case, who is to determine 'wrong intonation'? very subjective.

and oh, if you are passing on someone else's opinions, kindly say so. you are a known quantity, who knows who your friends are and why should they have any credibility at all?

I recall writing about *Gayathri Manthram* rules (as told to me)to your *email*(that one has to be initiated etc) subsequent to the comments of mine reposted by you.I have not saved my draft.So can't recall verbatim.

Intonation etc were told by a Ganapadigal who certainly is knowledgeable about these matters.This is the crux of the whole thing and I am not pursuing oneupmanship as imagined!

I always mention"....Sri.KanchiParamacharya...." or whoever I quote.

The above posting was not some *heavy* subject;hence I casually typed out without saying "so and so said the following....".

You,being the owner of this blog,obviously reserve the right to delete or censor whatever is not liked by you.As you categorically stated once you will not post anything about "hindu gurus".

I too, am under no compulsion to willynilly come up with sycophantic responses.Thank God,I have no agenda like any *ism* marketing or promoting.And I am no follower of any *godman*!

Btw,Bhagavan Sri.Ramana and Kanchi Paramacharya are not *godmen* like the plethora around.

Also,where have I mentioned playing recorded "Gita Slokas" is bad as written by you(so glibly attributed to me!)In fact, I might have desisted from typing out all that Ganapadigal said lest I should be branded "nitpicky".

I recall writing(comments section)Bhagavad Gita is to be lived and applied every moment of our lives not chanted in singsong voice in incense filled rooms followed by prasadam gorging.The import being,it is to internalised.If you misconstrue it to interpret I decry recording or chanting of Bhagavad Gita,am I responsible?

No surprise, given that the Chinese guy must be eating strange stuff. I recall someone saying "Eating too much nonveg makes you smell real bad." And he gave me examples of Arabs and Iranians who stink a lot, even after bathing in perfumes.